Raising another man's child.....

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Dreadsox

ONE love, blood, life
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[Q]NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Perhaps one out of every 25 dads could unknowingly be raising another man's child, a finding that has huge health and social implications, according to report released Wednesday.

Exposing so-called paternal discrepancy -- when a child is identified as being biologically fathered by someone other than the man who believes he is the father -- could lead to family violence and the breakup of many families. On the other hand, leaving paternal discrepancy hidden means having the wrong genetic information, which could have health consequences.

A UK-based research team reviewed scientific research dealing with paternity published between 1950 and 2004 and reports that rates of paternal discrepancy range from less than 1 percent to as much as 30 percent.

The investigation also showed that becoming pregnant at a younger age, low socioeconomic status, and being in a long-term relationship rather than being married seem to be linked to greater likelihood of paternal discrepancy.

It is generally believed that rates of paternal discrepancy are less than 10 percent. A paternal discrepancy rate of 4 percent means that one in 25 families could be affected.

However, soaring rates of paternity testing in North America and Europe means more cases of paternal discrepancy will be identified in the years ahead, Professor Mark A. Bellis, from the Center for Public Health at the Liverpool John Moores University, and colleagues point out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

In the United States, for example, rates of paternity testing more than doubled between 1991 and 2001. The increasing use of genetic testing for diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as in judicial procedures will also yield more opportunities to uncover cases where a father, unbeknownst to him, is not the biological parent.

"Modern genetic techniques continue to open a Pandora's box on hitherto hidden aspects of human sexual behavior," the investigators write.

Exposing such situations will inevitably affect not only deceived dads but also their family and potentially the biological father. Leaving paternal discrepancy undiagnosed, on the other hand, leaves those affected with incorrect genetic information that could prove harmful.

What's urgently needed, the authors say, is guidance on how and when paternal discrepancy should be exposed.

At present, most cases that are inadvertently identified are ignored by whoever uncovers the situation.

"However, in a society where services and life decisions are increasingly influenced by genetics, our approach to paternal discrepancy cannot be simply to ignore this difficult issue but must be informed by what best protects the health of those affected," Bellis and colleagues argue.

[/Q]
 
Interesting....I don't think I'll be needing one since I've already inherited some of the health problems from my dad's side! :banghead:
 
:tsk: The things we "higher life forms" do to each other. :shame:
Sometimes I wonder if all the scientific advances we've made are really worth the costs, i.e. the more we CAN find out about ourselves, the less we WANT to find out. :slant: :shrug:
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
Interesting....I don't think I'll be needing one since I've already inherited some of the health problems from my dad's side! :banghead:

Having been adopted...I had no understanding as to why I suffered from severe headaches my entire life....

Then 15 years ago I went back and found my biological family. It turns out my grandfather and my father both suffered from severe headaches until their 50's then it stopped.

Health questions have been important.
 
I feel like some people are going to be tempted to blame this on how "evil" the modern time is. The only thing that makes this a kind of "modern phenomenon" is that we now have the technology to discover the truth, whereas in the past, no one would ever have known the difference.

I laugh about this, because I've heard many stories about what happened in the good old "wholesome small town" I live in in the past. It turns out that many of the "wholesome churchgoing senior citizens" here had "wife swapping" parties back in the 1930s. :wink: The only difference between "now" and "then" is that everything is out in the open now, whereas everything "deviant" was underground in the "good old days."

Melon
 
melon said:
I feel like some people are going to be tempted to blame this on how "evil" the modern time is. The only thing that makes this a kind of "modern phenomenon" is that we now have the technology to discover the truth, whereas in the past, no one would ever have known the difference.

I laugh about this, because I've heard many stories about what happened in the good old "wholesome small town" I live in in the past. It turns out that many of the "wholesome churchgoing senior citizens" here had "wife swapping" parties back in the 1930s. :wink: The only difference between "now" and "then" is that everything is out in the open now, whereas everything "deviant" was underground in the "good old days."

Melon


Interesting....Have things changed, or are they the same and we just know more about it....
 
melon said:
I laugh about this, because I've heard many stories about what happened in the good old "wholesome small town" I live in in the past. It turns out that many of the "wholesome churchgoing senior citizens" here had "wife swapping" parties back in the 1930s. :wink: The only difference between "now" and "then" is that everything is out in the open now, whereas everything "deviant" was underground in the "good old days."

On a more sinister note, there have been a lot of child abuse scandals publicised in the media over here in the last decade or so, but most of them occured in the era of 'Holy Catholic Ireland', i.e. 1930's - 1970's, but only became public later.
 
This is good

We will be able to stone adulteress wives.

so it is written
so it should be.


A birth right is a gift from G*d and should not be given to one conceived in sin.
 
melon said:
I feel like some people are going to be tempted to blame this on how "evil" the modern time is. The only thing that makes this a kind of "modern phenomenon" is that we now have the technology to discover the truth, whereas in the past, no one would ever have known the difference.

I laugh about this, because I've heard many stories about what happened in the good old "wholesome small town" I live in in the past. It turns out that many of the "wholesome churchgoing senior citizens" here had "wife swapping" parties back in the 1930s. :wink: The only difference between "now" and "then" is that everything is out in the open now, whereas everything "deviant" was underground in the "good old days."

Melon

There was just as much hanky panky "back then" as there is now, they just kept it quiet.

My grandmother is as old-fashioned as you can get when it comes to S E X and I always assumed everyone of her generation was the same way. I was quite shocked when I started transfering some family history into an on-line geneology forum and found out otherwise. :wink:

Several of my aunts were :gasp: "with child" when they were married and some had several husbands. My great-grandmother was married 3 times! I even overheard an argument once where my grandmother accused my grandfather of "getting a girl in trouble" before they were married.

Divorce, unplanned pregnancy, illicit sex! I guess there wasn't much to do in rural South Dakota in the 1930's :sexywink:
 
Bono's American Wife said:


There was just as much hanky panky "back then" as there is now, they just kept it quiet.

My grandmother is as old-fashioned as you can get when it comes to S E X and I always assumed everyone of her generation was the same way. I was quite shocked when I started transfering some family history into an on-line geneology forum and found out otherwise. :wink:

Several of my aunts were :gasp: "with child" when they were married and some had several husbands. My great-grandmother was married 3 times! I even overheard an argument once where my grandmother accused my grandfather of "getting a girl in trouble" before they were married.

Divorce, unplanned pregnancy, illicit sex! I guess there wasn't much to do in rural South Dakota in the 1930's :sexywink:

Although I agree with you in one sense (People are still People), I wonder if inventions like the pill and the widespread availability of condoms have allowed people the ability to do the same things more frequently with far fewer consequences.
 
Bono's American Wife said:

My grandmother is as old-fashioned as you can get when it comes to S E X and I always assumed everyone of her generation was the same way. I was quite shocked when I started transfering some family history into an on-line geneology forum and found out otherwise. :wink:

Haha, I've had a similar experience. My mom now has her side of the genealogy charted back to the 1600. Even comparing birthdates and marriage dates from ccenturies ago, she'll say, "My, my! Having trouble getting to the church on time, are we?"
 
I had a friend who kind of had the opposite experience. His mom had gotten pregnant while she was drunk at a party.
His dad knew that Matt (the child) wasnt really his child but he loved him and raised him as his own, and Matt didnt find out until he was 15 that his dad wasnt his biological dad.
I had always suspected this because matt looked as if he was part black. He was built unlike other kids our age, and had unexplainable froish hair. Even though his skin was white, and his eyes were blue if you colored him a different color he would look like Warrick from CSI.
He was really upset when he found out, but upon thinking about it he just let it go. He loved his dad, and it didnt affect their relationship.
 
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